There are eight dishes and one soup in total. At the end, there is a hot and sour soup that is very appetizing. It is made with shredded winter bamboo shoots, shredded shiitake mushrooms, shredded crickets, shredded lean meat and eggs. It is sour and refreshing, and you will feel so comfortable and warm after drinking a bowl of it.

Zhuzi was almost crying while reading out the names of the dishes. Fortunately, after reading out the names of the dishes, he didn't have to continue disturbing the old man and the adults who were enjoying the food and drinking. When the old man waved his hand, he immediately retreated.

Xia Yuanzhi and Xu Kongmu were eating. In the past, they always talked while eating at Donglaiju. This time, Xu Kongmu did not talk to him about the case for the time being, but just concentrated on eating. Xu Kongmu was not a person who cared much about food. For him, food was enough to fill his stomach. When he ate at Donglaiju before, he just thought the food tasted good, better than the food cooked by his cook at home. But after eating this table today, he knew what delicious food was and what food desire was. Now he just wanted to eat first and then talk about the case.

We didn't drink much today, just one glass each, and we were all focused on eating.

The same was true for Xia Yuanzhi. He really had never thought that Miss Xu not only cooked delicious fish and pork intestines, but also other delicious dishes.

In fact, many dishes are prepared in a similar way at Donglaiju, such as stir-fried lotus root slices, braised pork feet with soybeans, steamed spareribs with rice flour, braised chicken with winter bamboo shoots, and hot and sour soup. However, the taste of the dishes made by Donglaiju’s chef cannot be compared with that made by Miss Xu.

There were a few dishes left over, which Donglaiju didn't have at all.

Especially the fried pork shreds with fatty intestines and fish and wild mushrooms, one dish is spicy and fragrant, the other is delicious, it is really fresh in the memory and you want to eat it again after having tried it.

The two of them ate almost all the food on the table. They were a little full, so they cleared the table. Zhuzi brought over a pot of tea, and the two of them drank tea and talked about the table.

Xia Yuanzhi thought carefully about that night. It was too dark and he only saw a blurry silhouette. He really couldn't remember anything. He could only roughly describe the height, weight and body shape of the silhouette. He also said that it looked familiar. However, this kind of silhouette looked like a man of average height and weight. There were a lot of such men on the street. Besides, the shopkeeper looked injured and panicked, which made him rush out to chase the thief and report to the police. There was nothing else.

The two talked about the case for a long time. As night fell, Xu Kongmu left. When he left, he asked Xia Yuanzhi, "Where does this cook live? Brother Xia said that she sells breakfast and fish. I can also ask our servant to go over and buy some in the future."

It tastes really good, and he wants to let his family try it too.

There are quite a lot of people in his family. In addition to his wife, he has a son and a daughter. His son is already married and has children, while his daughter is fifteen and has not yet been engaged.

He was busy with household affairs and didn't want his wife to be too tired, so he bought a servant and a maid a few years ago.

The little girl worked as a cook and helped with housework. The servant also helped with housework and washed the men's clothes.

Xia Yuanzhi immediately told Xu Kongmu the address of Miss Xu, "The lady's surname is also Xu, but her courtesy name is Yan."

Xu Kongmu nodded and went home.

After Xu Kongmu left, Wu and Xiao Cui came to clean up the main room. Seeing her old man smiling, Wu immediately asked, "Master, how is it?"

Xia Yuanzhi smiled and said, "The food cooked by Miss Xu is indeed excellent. Even Xu Kongmu praised it highly and even asked about Miss Xu's home address. He must be planning to buy food from her house." This fate was definitely established. Xu Kongmu was a decent person. If there was really trouble in Miss Xu's family in the future, Xu Kongmu could indeed help out.

Wu's heart was finally at peace, and she handed Shao'er to Xia Yuanzhi to take care of. "Master, you take care of Shao'er, I'll go talk to Miss Xu."

"It's dark now. Why don't we go tomorrow?" Xia Yuanzhi saw that it was dark and snowing.

"No." Wu said, "Mrs. Xu must be thinking about it too. I'll just go over and talk to her. I'll be back soon. Master, please wipe Shao'er's face and wash his feet. Then go to bed first."

After saying that, Wu took Xiao Cui and rushed over excitedly to tell Xu Qinyu the news.

When she arrived at Pei's house, the gate opened before she even knocked. It was indeed Miss Xu. She didn't ask much, thinking that Miss Xu was also thinking about this matter and had been waiting there.

In fact, when Xu Qinyu was still in the kitchen, Pei Weixuan, who was helping her fetch water, said, "Someone from the Xia family is here."

She just got up and opened the gate when she saw Wu and Xiao Cui.

Seeing the smiling face of Mrs. Wu, she knew it had worked.

In fact, Wu had told her before that Xu Kongmu had a good character, and if there were any hooligans causing trouble, Xu Kongmu would intervene if they went to the government to file a complaint.

Now that Xu Kongmu has tasted the food she cooked, the two families have slowly become friends and have a deeper bond, which will definitely be better.

Xu Qinyu led the people to the kitchen and brought over two small stools for them to sit on.

After Wu sat down, she smiled and said, "Ms. Xu's cooking is really amazing. My master has known Xu Kongmu for several years. He said that Xu Kongmu is not a person who cares about food. Even he praised the delicious food cooked by Miss Xu. The two of them didn't even drink much wine. They also asked my master about your address, Miss Xu, and wanted to buy food from you."

Xu Qinyu calmed down and said with a smile, "Thank you, Sister Xia. I pickled some bamboo shoots. You can take some back to eat later."

She also bought winter bamboo shoots from Mr. He, a fishmonger. Mr. He lived in a nearby village, close to the mountains. People here don't eat wild mushrooms, but they eat both winter and spring bamboo shoots. She wanted to eat winter bamboo shoots, so she asked Mr. He's son to go up the mountain and dig up a lot of them. There were a lot of winter bamboo shoots at home, so she pickled some. Pickling winter bamboo shoots is simple. After removing the shells, cut them in half, blanch them, let them cool, put them in a container, add boiled water, and an appropriate amount of salt, seal it, and you can eat it after ten days.

It’s such a simple pickling method, and the pickled sour bamboo shoots she made are very crisp and refreshing.

She took out a lot of bamboo shoots from the pottery jar and put them in a bowl. "You can just slice them when you want to eat them. If you want them to taste better, add a few drops of sesame oil and mix them cold."

There are sesame seeds here, called sesame, which can be used to make sesame oil, but it is quite expensive, so she bought two taels and usually eats it sparingly.

Mrs. Wu took it and handed it to Xiao Cui. She was not in a hurry to go back, so she sat in the kitchen and chatted with Miss Xu.

Xu Qinyu was still busy, and was in no hurry to do anything else. The two chatted for a while, and unknowingly talked about the case that Xu Kongmu was investigating. "My master said that the jewelry that was lost was the most valuable, worth two or three hundred taels of silver. The boss is sad about this, but it is difficult to blame the shopkeeper, who was also injured. I just hope Xu Kongmu can catch the thief quickly."

Xu Qinyu also became curious, "Since the thief suddenly broke into the shop, didn't the shopkeeper see clearly what the thief looked like?"

Wu said, "It seemed that when the shopkeeper turned off the lights, the thief suddenly ran out and hit him on the back of the head with a stick. The shopkeeper fell to the ground, and then he hit him on the forehead twice. Then he took a few pieces of jewelry in the counter and ran away. He took away the most expensive pieces of jewelry. The shopkeeper was very anxious. My husband kept asking him to chase the thief."

Xu Qinyu still felt that this was too coincidental.

Mrs. Wu continued, "My grandfather also said that the thief looked familiar from behind, but he was just an ordinary person in terms of height, weight and appearance. There are a lot of them on the street, so I couldn't remember who he was."

Pei Weixuan, who was helping to pick mushrooms, paused slightly.

These are the last wild mushrooms in the house. Knowing that Yu Niang likes to eat them, I paid special attention to them when I went up the mountain. I went up the mountain twice and only found these many in total.

There are many wild mushrooms in the southwest, but many of them are poisonous. He knows medicine and can tell them apart.

However, there are almost no wild mushrooms in winter. This is because people in the southwest do not eat mushrooms, so the wild mushrooms in late autumn are preserved and covered by heavy snow. There are still some left, but it will be deep winter soon, and if you go to the mountains to find these wild mushrooms, they will definitely be gone.

But when spring comes, wild mushrooms in the mountains will gradually emerge again.

Upon hearing about this case, Pei Weixuan said calmly: "You can ask Xu Kongmu to check the people around the shopkeeper. The thief is related to the shopkeeper, so you can interrogate the shopkeeper Ma carefully."

Wu was stunned for a moment. "Is it related to the shopkeeper? The shopkeeper's family is simple, with only his wife and daughter. The thief is a man, but the shopkeeper has a nephew..."

She was a little hesitant and chatted with Miss Xu for a few more words before returning home with Xiao Cui.

After everyone left, Xu Qinyu was surprised and asked, "Fourth brother, how do you know that the thief is related to the treasurer of Jinyinzhai?"

Pei Weixuan said slowly, "The shopkeeper's reaction is wrong. It's too coincidental. The possibility of an insider is greater. But I heard from Sister Xia that the shopkeeper is a good person. Maybe he had no choice but to do it or there is another hidden story." He had never met the shopkeeper of the jewelry store, otherwise he would be able to determine some details of the case just from his expression.

Xu Qinyu didn't realize it had anything to do with the shopkeeper, but she felt that it was indeed a little strange that the thief rushed in as soon as the shopkeeper turned off the lights and stole some of the most expensive jewelry.

…

After Wu and Xiao Cui returned, they saw Xia Yuanzhi was still playing with Shao Ge'er and they hadn't gone to bed yet.

Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "I went back. Miss Xu gave me some bamboo shoots that she pickled herself. She said that they would be delicious if you add a few drops of sesame oil to them. I'll give them to you to eat with your porridge tomorrow."

Xia Yuanzhi nodded and continued to tease Shao Ge'er, making him giggle.

Wu hesitated and said to him, "I was sitting at Miss Xu's house for a while, and happened to tell her about the Jinyinzhai case. Miss Xu's husband heard about it and said that the thieves were related to the horse handle. Sir, do you think it is really related to the horse handle?"

Xia Yuanzhi thought about it carefully. He was actually quite familiar with the shopkeeper of the Jinyinzhai next door, but Ma was a loyal man and had been the shopkeeper of Jinyinzhai for more than ten years. He had indeed been robbed before, but the thief was caught quickly and it had nothing to do with Ma. This time the incident happened several years later, so it was even less likely that he had anything to do with Ma.

Moreover, the horseshoe keeper had no son, only a daughter. He did have a nephew, but it was impossible for him to do such an illegal thing with his nephew. Besides, the horseshoe keeper's monthly salary was not small, so why would he give up his stable job for two or three hundred taels of silver?

Miss Xu's husband also said that it was related to someone around the horseshoe cashier, but he did not specifically say it was the horseshoe cashier's nephew. They just knew that the horseshoe cashier had a nephew. Xia Yuanzhi thought about it carefully again, and the thief's back figure was indeed somewhat similar to the horseshoe cashier's nephew.

He was undecided, but decided to talk to Xu Kongmu tomorrow.

The next morning, Xia Yuanzhi went to the yamen, found Xu Kongmu, and told him about it. He also said that it was Miss Xu's husband who discovered it.

Xu Kongmu nodded and secretly asked someone to check the people around the horse owner.

They did find out something. The horse butcher had a nephew who was addicted to gambling. He had been playing big in the casino on East Street a few days ago and owed a large gambling debt. He was beaten up by the people in the casino and was given half a month to pay back the money. The gambling debt was almost more than two hundred taels of silver.

When Xu Kongmu found out this, his eyes darkened.

Officers were immediately sent to arrest Ma Jinbao and his nephew for interrogation. When they arrested Ma Jinbao, the Ma family made a fuss, especially the old lady of the Ma family, who was throwing tantrums and asking why they were arresting her grandson. Of course Xu Kongmu ignored them and arrested them anyway. After taking them to the yamen, Xu Kongmu did not leave either. He took his men to search Ma Jinbao's house and Ma Jinbao's house.

Ma Zhanggui was Ma Jinbao's uncle, but the family had been divided long ago, and Ma Zhanggui did not live with the Ma family. When the family was divided, Old Lady Ma was partial to her and did not give anything to her eldest son's family.

Later, Ma the shopkeeper survived the most difficult days and bought his own house. He also had to give old lady Ma one or two silver coins as support every month, which was also given to his grandson by old lady Ma.

Xu Kongmu's jewelry was stolen because he was thinking about it. It's impossible for the thief to pawn it openly in a pawnshop in Yuanbao Town. It has snowed heavily recently, and it is difficult to go to other towns or Raozhou City. The jewelry must still be hidden.

They sent people to search Ma Jinbao's home, and actually found those pieces of jewelry under his bed.

The stolen goods were also there, and when he returned to the yamen, Ma Jinbao confessed everything.

He said that after he owed gambling debts, he was afraid and asked his uncle for help. However, his uncle could not come up with two or three hundred taels of silver, so he resorted to this trick of supervised theft. He also said that it was his uncle who persuaded him to steal more, and then when he paid off his gambling debts, the rest would be split between the two of them.

The horseshoe cabinet had a different story.

With red eyes, he told Xu Kongmu that his nephew owed a lot of gambling debts and came to him to ask for help, but he couldn't afford the money. His old mother made a fuss and asked him to sell the house to pay off his nephew's debt. He had a wife and a daughter, so naturally he was unwilling to do so. He also said that he only had a dozen taels of silver saved at home, so he could only help in this way, and gave the dozen taels of silver to his nephew.

As a result, my nephew took the dozen or so taels of silver and went to the casino and lost it all.

Seeing that the day to repay the gambling debt was getting closer, his nephew actually asked him to supervise himself and steal, and said that he would steal more jewelry from the shop, and after selling them to pay off the gambling debt, the remaining jewelry would be divided equally between the two. Of course, he was unwilling to do so, and the two had a fierce quarrel. But he didn't expect that two days later, he had just turned off the lights and was hit by a club from behind. In a daze, he could vaguely see that the man was his nephew Ma Jinbao in the moonlight outside. Then he was hit on the forehead with a stick. The thief stole a few pieces of jewelry and ran away.

After the incident, he guessed that the thief might be his nephew Ma Jinbao, but he was too frightened to tell his boss or the people in the government.

He was afraid of being bitten back, afraid that others would think he was in collusion with his nephew, and afraid that his boss would no longer want him.

After the horse chestnut finished speaking, tears flowed down his face. He had helped his nephew pay off his gambling debts many times. In fact, he was reluctant to pay it back, but his old mother came to force him to pay. He refused to give her the money, so his mother rolled and raged in front of his door and accused him of being unfilial. With the word "filial piety" weighing on her, what else could he do?

His old mother scolded him, saying that he only had one daughter, and who should he keep the money for?

He also said that his nephew was the root of the Ma family, and that after he died, someone would break a lucky basin for him.

For the sake of his nephew these years, he had saved no money except a place to live. You should know that he was a clerk in a gold and silver shop, and he had a monthly salary of three taels of silver. In the end, his nephew still cheated him.

After listening to what both sides said, Xu Kongmu went to investigate near the horse shoe cabinet's house. At dusk that day, Ma Jinbao did come to the horse shoe cabinet's house, and the two had a fierce quarrel. The neighbors could all testify to this.

Xu Kongmu went to interrogate Ma Jinbao again and asked him why he had quarreled with his uncle when he came to the house that day, and whether he wanted to steal the jewelry from the Jinyinzhai, but Ma, the shopkeeper, was unwilling to do so.

Ma Jinbao stammered and could not answer, and his subsequent answers were even more incoherent. He was later whipped twice and cried in pain, then confessed his guilt. Just as the shopkeeper Ma said, it was indeed Ma Jinbao who persuaded his uncle to watch over him but failed, so he took advantage of the cover of night to sneak up on his uncle and steal the jewelry from the Jinyinzhai.

The truth of the case was revealed and the jewelry was recovered.

According to the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty, stealing more than ten taels of silver was a serious crime and the offender would be punished with fifty lashes of the cane and then five years in prison. The punishment could be redemption, which means that the offender could use money to atone for his crime.

For example, if you were to be beaten with 50 taels of silver, you would be exempted from the punishment. However, you would be sentenced to five years in prison, and the fine for one year in prison was 100 taels of silver. So you would have to pay 500 taels of silver to redeem yourself, or you would have to stay in prison. The prison was terrible, with all kinds of snakes, insects, rats and ants, and the food was often rotten.

After all, the horseshoe cabinet knew about the crime but did not report it. He should be punished with ten strokes of the cane, but he can also redeem himself.

But Ma, the shopkeeper, had no way of saving any money for his nephew over the years. His relationship with his wife and daughter was strained because of the constant financial support he had to give to his nephew. Moreover, his wife and daughter had no money on them, and he did not want to sell the house just for the ten boards. Where would his wife and daughter live after he sold the house?

The horse butcher thought he was going to get ten beatings, but unexpectedly his wife and daughter came to the yamen suddenly and gave him ten taels of silver, thus exempting him from the beatings.

He then realized that although his wife usually disliked him helping his nephew, she had no choice but to ask him for money, saying it was for household expenses. In fact, she secretly saved the extra money, which could be considered as saved from the cracks in his fingers.

The horse butcher felt very guilty and hugged his wife and cried. He planned to give his mother only 500 coins every month and never give her any more.

Even if his mother came to the government to sue him, five hundred coins a month in support would be the maximum he could get.

Moreover, he didn't realize that he had kept the matter a secret from his employer and the government, and his employer didn't know whether he would continue to employ him. He was afraid that he would not be able to do so. He had made such a big mistake, so how could he have the nerve to continue working for his employer?

After that, Ma Jinbao was beaten with a stick. Old Madam Ma, Ma Jinbao's parents, brothers and sisters all came. The whole family surrounded Ma Jinbao and asked him to pay the fifty taels of silver to redeem their nephew. Ma Jinbao was very angry and said it was impossible, and he didn't have fifty taels of silver.

Mrs. Ma asked her eldest son to sell the house in exchange for money.

The horseshoe cabinet became furious and turned away.

Old Mrs. Ma began to lie on the ground and cry. This trick used to work best on her eldest son.

But this time the eldest son ignored her and turned around and disappeared.

Old Mrs. Ma, who was lying on the ground, was startled. She quickly got up and chased her eldest son, continuing to scold him, wanting him to pay money. The onlookers already knew what happened. Seeing this, they spit and wanted to scold the old lady to death, but the old lady did not take it seriously at all and turned around to scold them back.

Before the old lady could catch up with the horse shoe cabinet, the people from the yamen had already started the execution.

As the board came down, Ma Jinbao cried out loudly, his face turned pale. The old lady panicked and ran over and shouted, "Don't, don't hit my grandson, we have money to redeem him."

After saying this, he took out a bag of silver from his arms, which contained fifty taels of silver. It was obvious that he had this much silver at home, but he insisted on asking his eldest son for it.

The people around them felt that this family was outrageous. They had money but still asked the eldest son for it. Moreover, since the family had been divided, they were just relatives. Even if the horse shoe keeper had only a daughter, he couldn't cheat her like this.

This was only the ransom money for Ma Jinbao's caning. He also needed another five hundred taels of silver for five years in prison. Even if all the people in the Ma family were killed, they still couldn't come up with that much money. The old lady cried bitterly, and she knew that her eldest son couldn't come up with the five hundred taels of silver even if he sold the house, so she cried even more sadly.

The government didn't care. If he couldn't come up with the money, they would drag Ma Jinbao back to prison.

…

Xu Qinyu found out about this a few days later when Xia's sister-in-law came to her house to chat with her.

Although the town was large and there were some thefts and robberies on a regular basis, the circumstances of this case were relatively new and the news spread throughout the town. Everyone felt that the horseshoe cabinet was both pitiful and innocent, although of course he was also wrong and should not have kept it secret.

After hearing this, Xu Qinyu couldn't help but ask, "Did the owner of the Jinyinzhai finally fire the horseshoe keeper?"

Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "No, the owner of Jinyinzhai is very nice. He said that the shopkeeper Ma had worked for his family for more than ten years and had never made a mistake in his account. He was also a loyal person. Although he was involved in the theft this time, he was innocent, so he was given another chance. The shopkeeper Ma cried immediately and said that he would work hard in the future and that such a thing would never happen again."

After Wu finished speaking, she told Xu Qinyu that the jewelry in the Jinyinzhai was quite beautiful and the silk flowers were also very unique. They should go shopping together when the weather gets warmer tomorrow.

Xu Qinyu immediately said yes and couldn't help touching her hair bun. She didn't have any jewelry yet, just a wooden hairpin. She could go shopping when she made some money in the future. There is no one in the world who doesn't like to be coquettish.

She really didn't have much extra money now, as she had invested all the money she earned. She only brought back the big iron pot yesterday, and the firewood under the wooden shed was moved to the other side by her fourth brother. The big stove was also built, so she could cook more fish tomorrow, and make fish balls and fish head tofu pot.

Now that she was half acquainted with Xu Kongmu, Xu Qinyu had no plans to sell snacks in East Street and West Street again. It was too tiring. It would be better to take care of the business at home first. When she made some money in the future, it would be much more convenient to open a restaurant there.

Hearing the conversation between the two, Pei Weixuan paused and lowered his eyes slightly.

Xu Qinyu thought about cooking more fish tomorrow, and said to Mrs. Wu, "Sister-in-law, I can cook more fish tomorrow, and sell fish balls and fish head tofu stew. Fish balls are also cooked food, so you can just heat them up at home, or add some oil to the wok and simmer them for a better taste. Sister-in-law can also tell the neighbors in the alley who want to buy fish to come and buy them."

Mrs. Wu immediately said, "Don't worry, Miss Xu. I'll take care of it."